The Broad Street Bullies are the Caps oldest rivals dating back to 1974-75, so long time Capitals fans always have a little extra “mojo” in their stride after a win over the despised Flyers, who often try to take hockey back to the Neanderthal Era.

Despite the three goal margin this was not an easy triumph, and if not for an early video review, the Flyers are up 1-0. Holtby fumbled the rebound of a Radko “Stiff” Gudas shot just 21 seconds in and the puck squirted into the slot. Philadelphia then put the biscuit in the basket, but on replay, you could clearly see forward Dale Weise pushing the Holtbeast to his right, which took #70 out of position to stop the shot. That’s a no-no and the NHL officials called it correctly, no goal.

After what appeared to be another horror show start, the Capitals might have been looking at a three game losing streak (the Caps were terrible in weekend tilts in Detroit and New York in the opening frame), but they righted the ship quickly. Ovechkin, who didn’t get many shot attempts in this one, made a big hit on Brandon Manning, who was battling for the puck along the right wing boards with Oshie, and it jarred the puck loose to #77, who then fed Backstrom in a prime scoring position. #19 then wasted no time and fired it on net. The puck hit Gudas in the leg and deflected past Michal Neuvirth (25 saves) to give Washington the lead just 6:33 into the contest.

The Caps and Flyers would trade more chances in the opening frame, but then the opportunistic Capitals increased their lead to two pucks when Kuznetsov buried one top shelf on Neuvy on the power play with 3:32 left in period one. Washington would go to the dressing room up 2-0, but it certainly felt like a much closer game, with the Holtbeast once again being a difference maker in goal for the Caps.

The Flyers, who are battling for their playoff lives, then threw the kitchen sink at the Caps in the middle frame. At the 6:54 mark, they cut the deficit to 2-1 on a Brayden Schenn deflection after Gudas took out Matt Niskanen’s knee, with a little help from Wayne Simmonds from behind, in the right wing circle. #2 would leave the bench and head to the locker room for further evaluation. He returned and played a penalty killing shift late in the second period, but then the Caps announced he would be done for the night with a lower body injury that will be evaluated further on Thursday by team doctors. Uh oh, if Niskanen is out long term, then this is trouble for the Caps. GM Brian MacLellan smartly traded a conditional draft pick for right handed shooting Tom Gilbert from the Kings during the bye week for blue line depth, so the Capitals have some insurance there. However, if Nisky is going to be out long term, then BMac might need to swing a bigger deal by the NHL trade deadline (Wednesday, March 1st).

But injuries are a part of the game and the show must go on. In Niskanen’s absence, John Carlson stepped up and logged 27:37 of ice time and he was rock solid going +2 with nine shot attempts (five on net) and an assist. Dmitry Orlov (20:37) and Karl Alzner (25:40) also took on bigger roles and got the job done.

Speaking of getting the job done, the Washington fourth line of Tom Wilson, Jay Beagle, and Daniel Winnik didn’t score any points, but those guys, along with Lars Eller, killed off two penalties and wore down their opponents all evening. Winnik has been especially good in February at even strength and on the PK.

Still this was a one goal game until late in the second period and that’s when Washington’s quick strike capability came through, again. Taylor Chorney, who received a sweater for the first time since January, made a great breakout pass that sprung the second line on a three on two rush. Justin Williams entered the offensive zone with speed that backed the Flyers defense up and he made a sweet cross ice feed back to Kuznetsov coming down the left side of the ice. #92 then tried to hit Marcus Johansson going to the net on his right, but the puck fortuitously hit Gudas’ twig and went through the five hole of Neuvirth to make it 3-1 with 2:01 left in period two. That was a crusher of a goal to the Flyers.

In the third period, with just five defensemen, the Capitals then did a super job of managing the game. They kept the Flyers to the perimeter and rarely gave up quality chances. Ovechkin, who still needs to work on his defensive posture, took a bad slashing penalty on Gudas with 13:46 remaining, but the Capitals killed that off fairly easily.

Philadelphia had the puck quite a bit in the last 20 minutes, but again, they were not getting good looks, just perimeter shots. The Caps opportunistic offense then sealed the Flyers fate with a sweet goal from the top line. Ovechkin made a great rush with the puck out of the defensive zone and he fed cross ice to Nicklas Backstrom on the left wing side of the rink. #19 carried the puck across the offensive blue line and with the Gr8 streaking to the net, Nicky put it right on Ovi’s tape. Ovechkin then went to the backhand, then Neuvirth got his stick on the puck, but Oshie beat Manning to the puck in the paint and slammed it home.

Cya Flyers!

Washington’s offense was back in this one because they were working hard to get to the net and also shooting the puck or putting it towards the cage. All four Caps goals came from the prime scoring area. The Capitals, as they had done consistently from New Year’s Eve until the start of their bye week, won the battle in terms of quality scoring chances. Sure the Flyers had puck possession for extended stretches of this tilt, but it was Washington who found a way to get the really golden opportunities and bury them. That’s the name of the game and it’s why the Caps shooting percentage had been so high. Also, their save percentage has been stellar because they prevent their opponents from getting lots of great scoring chances.

Overall, the Capitals looked more like the dominant team we saw in January and early February on Wednesday. They still have things to clean up in their game and the loss of Niskanen, if long term, will hurt and have to be mitigated. The bye week is done and the ugly first periods to the Red Wings and Rangers are hopefully but a memory now. Washington has a lot of work to do if they want to be the team they believe they can be, so the next six to seven weeks are important to set the table for the playoffs.

Speaking of the playoff battle, this victory over the Flyers gives them a 40-12-7 record (87 points) and they lead the Penguins by five points, the Blue Jackets by eight, and the Rangers by nine points in the Metropolitan Division with 23 games remaining (Columbus has a game in hand). Washington also leads the Minnesota Wild by three points in the Presidents’ Trophy race.

But that’s not the trophy the Capitals want so they have to continue to hone their game.

On Thursday, though, the air will smell cleaner, the food will taste better, and the drinks will go down smoother for Capitals fans because of this big win over their arch rivals from Filthy.

Notes: The Flyers creamed the Caps from the dot, 43-22…the Capitals blocked 23 shots (Alzner led the way with five)…Travis Boyd was recalled from Hershey as the 13th forward and was scratched with Nate Schmidt…the Caps play the super FAST Edmonton Oilers on Friday at the Verizon Center at 7 pm. The Oilers beat the Capitals handily in Alberta back in October…all eyes and ears will be on Niskanen’s status on Thursday.

Braden Holtby made 26 saves behind another dominating 200 foot performance from the Capitals, who made the only goal of the game from Nicklas Backstrom stand up to extinguish the Flyers in game six, 1-0.

The Capitals will now move on to play the red hot and fast Pittsburgh Penguins later this week while the cheap shot artist Flyers will have all summer to hone their tactics on the golf course. It is always fun to knock off that team, which promotes Neanderthal-styled behavior and hockey on the ice, but more on them later.

Washington won this series with team defense by allowing only six goals in six games. The Holtbeast had two shutouts and only permitted five non empty net goals, one of which came off of his own teammate in game five. The Caps top three defensemen, John Carlson, Matt Niskanen, and Karl Alzner, were absolutely fabulous in this series. They were physical and Carlson showed why he’s a top ten NHL blue liner, in my book, with his defensive skills and offensive ability. He was downright sensational for Coach Barry Trotz in the six game series victory. Alzner is playing the best hockey of his career and Niskanen is just so good at both ends of the rink. His hitting ability is vastly underrated.

Another big part of the Caps team defense was the way their forwards were back checking when the puck came out of the Washington zone. The forwards routinely hauled back and stole puck after puck from the Flyers in the neutral zone or forced Philly into turning it over at the offensive blue line because the Capitals defensemen were able to step up and make plays. It was text book coverage all over the ice and Filthy had few odd man rushes in the series, as a result. They also had a minimal amount of quality scoring chances and the Caps set a franchise record with this performance in terms of fewest goals allowed in a seven game series (previous mark was 7 vs. Ottawa in 1998). Washington will need to maintain that type of defensive play against the offensively minded Penguins.

Michal Neuvirth was the single reason the Flyers were able to extend this series to six games. He was stellar in net in only allowing two goals in three games, one on a rebound by T.J. Oshie in game four and the Backstrom marker on Sunday, which he had no chance on. Alex Ovechkin made a super play at the blue line to get the puck to Marcus Johansson (six points in six games) and Jojo made a perfect pass to Nicky, who buried the shot into the yawning cage for the game winner at 8:59 of the second period.

Johansson was a big bright spot and a huge reason why Washington was able to finally bury the Flyers. The Caps had strong contributions up and down the lineup, especially from the bottom six forwards. Mike Richards, Tom Wilson, Daniel Winnik, Jojo, and Jay Beagle were all at or near the top of their respective games. Wilson was near perfect in game six and the Flyers were flat out afraid of him as the series went on. He opens up space on the ice for the Caps forwards. If he plays like that and stays out of the box, he is a real factor in the post season when the games are tight and hitting really matters.

If there was a down area in this series, it was the second line. Evgeny Kuznetsov and Andre Burakovsky had the puck quite a bit, but by the end of the series they looked tired and a bit timid, at times, as they were getting taken off of the puck too easily on the wall. Justin Williams was okay at even strength, save for his four penalty night in game five. This was a bad match up for that line against the physical Flyers, but I expect them to have more favorable results against the Penguins, and they’ll need to do so.

In game six, the Capitals wanted to be more disciplined, and they were. Unfortunately, a friendly fire high stick by a Flyers player on Ryan White was called a double minor on Backstrom just four minutes after the Flyers had killed off a five on three for the Caps early in the second period with the game scoreless. I’ll give the zebras some benefit of the doubt because it happened so fast, but the replay clearly showed it wasn’t Backstrom or any other Caps stick that hit White in the nose. Shouldn’t the officials be able to use replay there to get the call correct? I’m all for automatic review of high sticking calls in the post season, especially the double minor kind. So please fix this NHL!

This incorrect call came at a critical juncture and it was made worse when the referees mistakenly whistled Matt Niskanen for hooking Wayne Simmonds right off of the ensuing face off in front of Holtby. Watch the replay of that one again, that’s just good defense there.

Coach Trotz’ crew was suddenly down two men for infractions that weren’t committed by them, but credit the mental toughness of this Capitals team. They didn’t flinch one bit. They worked hard and killed off the four minutes, including two minutes of five on three by only allowing three shots on goal, which the Holtbeast turned away. Beagle, Carlson, Alzner, and Richards were just superb on those kills. Richards, as he has done repeatedly in this series, was so good at dropping down to cover the back door on Flyers power play opportunities. His stick prevented Jakub Voracek from giving the Flyers the lead on the five on three.

With momentum gained on that crucial kill, the Capitals scored just two and half minutes later to set the stage for the final frame, where the Caps just kept the Flyers to the outside to preserve the victory.

When the horn sounded, this was one sweet victory for the Capitals and their fans over their arch rivals since 1974. Washington now owns a 3-2 lifetime playoff series advantage on the Flyers (wins in 1984, 1988, and 2016; losses in 1989 and 2008).

After the Caps domination in game five in a 1-0 loss that allowed Philly to pull within 3-2 in the series, there were factions in the media and the fan base that immediately shifted into the “Here We Go Again” and “Caps are Going to Blow It Again” mode. The “Capitals are Cursed” mantra was thrown around far too much for my liking. I’m not surprised by it coming from some of the media, that’s their job to stir it up, but it was frustrating and disappointing to see so many fans fall blindly into it. To quote Bruce Springsteen, many in the fan base need to simply “Show a little faith.”

I’ve been steadfast all season in my belief that this team is different from past Capitals teams and they have shown that throughout the season. This is the best Caps team ever assembled and coached, period. Yet the first sign of trouble we had too many breaking their legs jumping off of the bandwagon.

Where’s the mental toughness?

Fortunately this Caps team has it and it is different. There are eight players who weren’t on this roster last season when they lost to the Rangers in May; Oshie, Williams, Richards, Winnik, Dmitry Orlov, Nate Schmidt, Taylor Chorney, and Mike Weber (who was excellent in 8:48 of ice time in game six). Those players have helped upgrade the talent and closeness of this club. Williams and Richards bring a wealth of experience (five Stanley Cups), too. There will be bumps in the road and it is the teams that stick together that fight through tough stretches and prevail. Again, show a little faith fans.

Finally, let’s talk about what it means to beat the Flyers.

Forgive me for not heeding Tim McGraw’s advice to “Always be humble and kind” here, because when it comes to the Flyers, all bets are off. They are despised by many and unlike the Pittsburgh Steelers, who the Ravens fan base very much despises, Philadelphia is not respected, where the football team that is run by the Rooneys in Steeltown is respected. Flyers owner Ed Snider passed away right before this series began and the people who work for him have always pretty much been first class to me off of the ice from Joe Kadelec, Gene Hart, Bobby Taylor, Bobby Clarke, and Dave Brown on down, including Gene Prince, who used to run the Spectrum and Wells Fargo Center press boxes.

But on the ice is a different story. Snider preached physical hockey and that’s okay, as long as it is done between the whistles. In this series, the Flyers crossed the line too many times. Simmonds cross checked Ovechkin in the back of the knee in game two and Brayden Schenn did the same thing to Kuznetsov in game four, with both coming well AFTER THE WHISTLE. They were bush league moves along with the intent to injure hit by Pierre-Edouard Bellmare on Orlov in game three, simply because the Flyers were being sore losers. The Capitals may have actually benefited by not hitting the empty net at the end of game six because it would’ve given the sore loser Flyer players time to get in at least another cheap shot or two.

Speaking of bush league and being sore losers, it was just two and a half years ago when goalie Ray Emery raced across the ice and jumped Holtby then started pounding him in a game the Caps would end up winning 7-0. It was disgraceful, but the dinosaur like fans in Filthy loved it and a media member made a bozo move naming Emery the game’s third star. That’s typical Philadelphia Flyer mentality. They’ve been setting the game back for 40 years on the ice, so they’ll get no praise from me.

Look, the Flyers overachieved this year and have some good young players, but they are cement heads on the ice and that leads to their overall reputation. As Niskanen repeatedly told me in this series, “it’s in their DNA.” They’ll continue to be nothing but losers until they clean that stuff up and shame on the NHL for allowing too much of it to happen far too often. It also leads to many of their fans acting like babies and idiots on occassion, witness game three’s bracelet throwing spree. Simply put, on the ice, that team is pretty much classless.

But good for Coach Trotz for praising the Flyers season in his post game presser, he is a classy man as is Caps GM, Brian MacLellan. Those two know what they are doing and have assembled a roster that will go up against the vaunted Penguins, who own a 7-1 all time series record against the Caps. But none of that matters and the last time these teams met in the playoffs was 2009.

Again, this Capitals team is different. It is a challenging match up and Washington will need to play their game properly to win the series. This club is mentally tough and I’m not guaranteeing a victory, but the fan base needs to show a little faith, in fact a lot of faith, and stick by them as they go up against Sidney Crosby and company.

The Washington Capitals used a four goal third period to bury the Philadelphia Flyers, 6-1, on Monday night and put Philly’s season on notice. The Caps now have a three games to none lead in this best of seven series. Game 4 is Wednesday night at 7 pm at the Wells Fargo Center.

Simply put, the Capitals embarrassed the Flyers.

In addition, the Flyers and their fans, who repeatedly threw bracelets onto the ice on Ed Snider night late in the third period, totally melted down embarrassing themselves and the NHL with their awful penalties and idiotic behavior. Frankly, they looked like a bunch of whining babies when it was all said and done.

With the crowd amped up, the game got off to a bad start for Washington as Michael Raffl put the rebound home of a Brandon Manning point shot just 57 seconds into the contest. Braden Holtby (31 saves) said afterwards that was a shot he wanted back, but following that, the Holtbeast shut the door on the Flyers.

Washington, though, answered quickly, less than four minutes after the Flyers early goal to really settle things down. 15 seconds after Wayne Simmonds took a holding infraction, John Carlson blasted a shot from the point and it hit Marcus Johansson on the way in to tie things up. The Caps would score on one of their two power plays in the opening frame while Philadelphia went 0 for 2 with their man advantage situations.

In the middle frame, the Capitals took the lead at the 8:50 mark as Alex Ovechkin (two goals, one assist) slipped behind the Flyers defense and snapped a wicked shot just below the glove of Steve Mason (21 saves) and inside the far post to give Washington a lead it would not relinquish.

The Flyers did their best to try to tie it up, throwing their body around and pretty much tossing the kitchen sink at Holtby. Brooks Orpik took a vicious hit from Ryan White that resulted in an upper body injury and he did not return. From that point on in period two, Philadelphia was really all over the Caps. Somehow Washington managed to maintain their focus and Brayden Schenn took a stupid slashing penalty at the end of the frame that set the table for a big Caps final stanza.

What a period it was as Evgeny Kuznetsov scored on the ensuing power play when the Caps got a lucky break off of the back glass on a Justin Williams hard around that bounced right into the slot and on the stick of #92, which he deposited by Mason just 1:58 into the period. The Flyers and their fans were absolutely stunned. Sure it was a lucky bounce, but if Schenn doesn’t take the bad penalty, Kuznetsov is not all alone and in position for the easy marker.

But the Flyers would not learn from their mistakes and Radko Gudas took another bad penalty, tripping Kuznetsov in the offensive zone and Carlson made him pay with his third goal in three games with Williams setting a beautiful screen on Mason at the top of the crease. That made it 4-1 and the Flyers were pretty much done with the hockey part of their game.

It’s in the DNA of the Broad Street Bullies to get dirty and cheap when the game is heading into the out of reach category and right on cue, the Flyers went there. Pierre-Edouard Bellemare hit Dmitry Orlov awkwardly from behind and earned a five minute major at the 12:17 mark. A scrum ensued and many Flyers fans lost it, at that point, littering the ice with the bracelets and causing a couple of delays. They were then warned by the referees, via the Flyers in house announcer, that if more objects were thrown on the ice then the home team would be penalized.

The Caps worked the puck around in the offensive zone for several minutes on the five minute major creating numerous chances before Ovechkin fired another dart past Mason to make it 5-1 with 5:02 remaining. Naturally, several more bracelets were tossed onto the rink and the referees assessed a bench minor to the Flyers for the fans insubordination. Those who threw the objects onto the ice basically acted like three year old kids. It was embarrassing for those fans who were behaving properly, and there was a good number of them. It also disrespected the game and was a black mark for the NHL. Simply put, the NHL cannot be happy with the behavior of the Flyers and their fans and that will do them no favors the rest of the series. Snider, if he were still with us, would be disgusted at the lack of respect for the game shown by numerous Flyers fans.

Jay Beagle then closed out the scoring after Matt Read took a slashing penalty and the Caps earned a five on three power play.

The final statistics for the third period included four Capitals goals, a shot attempts advantage of 33 to 15 and a 13-6 margin from the dot on draws. Up until that period, the Flyers had a 27-13 edge on faceoffs and 48-35 on shot attempts. The mostly young Philly team took themselves out of the contest with terrible decisions and penalties; it was not simply the result of one lucky bounce.

Overall, the Caps did a super job in this game of keeping the Flyers to the outside and either blocked shots or allowed Holtby to see the biscuit clearly. Coach Trotz stated that despite the offensive weapons his team has up front, his club is really built on defense.

Washington also won this contest by keeping their cool and destroying the Flyers on special teams. The Caps went 5-9 with the power play while Philly was 0-5.

“It’s tough, you want to retaliate, but you have to look at the bigger picture and know what we’re playing for here. Everyone takes hits to make plays, takes slashes, you have to take a lot of stuff if you want to get where you want to be,” said two time Stanley Cup Champion Mike Richards, who had six hits in 11:05 of ice time.

“It tests your patience, for sure, but the end goal is to win the game. We have to stick up for each other, stay together as a group, but especially when our power play is going like that, we’ll just turn it into a game like that and keep scoring goals,” added Matt Niskanen, who blocked five shots in a game high 26:48 on the blue line for Washington.

This was the first time in franchise history, in eight tries (h/t Dan Steinberg of The Washington Post), that the Caps have taken a 3-0 lead in a best of seven series, but in the locker room following the game, you’d be hard pressed to tell that Washington is on the verge of sweeping this opening round series. Basically, it looked like another night in Caps land during the regular season. There was no celebration or feeling of accomplishment, just a singular focus on the task at hand, which was to win a hockey game and then get one more on Wednesday.

“You want to win, that’s where the focus is, but they have a really good team. [Claude Giroux] is a great leader and Simmonds is a great leader, so you know they’re not going to lay down and die, so we have to play our best game. The toughest is to get that fourth win and we know they are going to come hard,” finished Richards.

Notes: Orlov, despite the nasty hit he took then crawling out from under the donnybrook that occurred while he was laying on the ice, came back and notched a power play assist. #9 eats rocks for breakfast and looked very solid and comfortable in 12:34 of ice time…Nate Schmidt, one assist, was excellent in 11:58 of playing time…with Orpik likely out for game 4, you can expect Mike Weber to get a sweater on Wednesday given that his game most closely resembles #44’s…Karl Alzner was fabulous on D in 22:52 of ice time.

Any doubts about the Washington Capitals ability to ramp up their game for the playoffs were laid to rest on Thursday night at the Verizon Center as the Caps dominated the Philadelphia Flyers in a 2-0 victory in the series opener. Game two is Saturday night in Washington at 7 pm, once again.

Braden Holtby and the Capitals had to kill three first period penalties and in that frame the Holtbeast made 11 of his 19 total stops for the game, with a couple coming on quality scoring chances. He was challenging shooters and did a super job of gobbling up any loose pucks around his crease.

After that, the Flyers had a measly eight shots on goal in just 30 shot attempts, and limited scoring chances, while the Capitals got even stronger as the game went on. Washington had 53 of their 69 shot attempts after the opening stanza and 23 of their 31 shots on goal. If not for Steve Mason and the Caps missing the net on some chances, this one is a blow out.

“I thought we had a good, committed two-way game. We put pressure on them with the fore check. Got a lot of pucks back, I thought, generated a lot of shots from all kinds of angles. Good cycle game and guys were committed to coming back [on D]. When our forwards are back checking that well, we can hold the line and negate some of their rush game. Our breakouts were pretty good and we didn’t spend a lot of time in our zone,” stated defensemen Matt Niskanen.

John Carlson scored the game winning tally on the Caps third power play of the game at 16:21 of the middle frame. It was nothing fancy, just a simple blast from the point with traffic. Both T.J. Oshie and Nicklas Backstrom were in the slot and when the puck hit a Flyer defender, it skipped by Mason.

The final goal for the Caps came with 3:24 remaining. Marcus Johansson (two assists) stripped Flyers forward Jakub Voracek of the puck in the neutral zone and skated into the offensive right wing circle. From there Jojo hit the brakes and found Jay Beagle streaking down the slot. #83 said that he called for the puck and Marcus put it right on his tape. Beags then shot it far side by Mason and the VC went nuts knowing that game one was secured.

That goal came after the Capitals had squandered a four minute power play. Overall the Caps were 1 for 6 with the man advantage in 10:19 of time.

“I thought our power play was dangerous the first couple, lot of good looks. I thought we were pounding the pucks at the net and we had opportunities for tips and rebounds. Some of those from a distance can go in if you have traffic. They made a little bit of an adjustment on the four minute one on how their forwards play, which will happen in the series, so we’ll tweak things as we go,” said Niskanen, and it should be noted that the Carlson goal was from the point with bodies in front of Mason.

Long periods of this game were either scoreless (first 36 minutes) or just a single goal (21 minutes) lead for the Caps and the Flyers only needed a shot to go in on a lucky bounce or a spare scoring chance to knot it. But Washington was very stingy and did a great job of limiting the Flyers speed and preventing them from getting many opportunities, especially at five on five.

Following a Tom Wilson hit on Andrew MacDonald with 6:51 left, Wayne Simmonds completely lost his head and negated a Philly power play and also took himself off of the rink for the game by fighting #43. The call on Wilson was two minutes for boarding. On replay, MacDonald turns when he sees “Freight Train” Willy coming at him and he takes the hit and embellishes a bit into the boards. Coach Trotz said this happens in the game now and he would prefer #43 not make that hit with a one goal lead in the last 10 minutes.

Flyers defensemen Shayne Gostisbehere, also known as “Ghost,” then took a coincidental penalty with Andre Burakovsky and he came a bit unglued after the whistle.

A few minutes later, Voracek was pick-pocketed by Johansson and the Caps closed the deal.

At the final horn, after Brayden Schenn hit Alzner with an unnecessary check, the Flyers Ryan White then lost it. He went after Karl Alzner and Jay Beagle in a big scrum, but it was only White that earned a 10 minute misconduct. The Flyers have pretty much always been sore losers and get nasty when they are about to be defeated. On this night it was no different. But the Capitals didn’t bite and maintained their composure while Philadelphia’s squad melted down. Washington certainly seems to be in their heads after just game one.

“That’s historically part of the Flyers. They try to do things to change the momentum. So I thought we stayed fairly disciplined tonight, it was pretty good,” finished Niskanen, who led the Caps in ice time with 25:43.

The Minnesota native, who has made such a huge difference for the Capitals blue line, was spot on.

Overall, the Capitals played extremely well and dominated a Flyers team that spent a lot of energy just getting into the playoffs. In addition, forward Sean Couturier took a hit from Alex Ovechkin (11 shot attempts) in the 2nd period and didn’t return. After the contest he was declared out for the series with an A/C sprain of the shoulder. That is a huge loss for Philadelphia as #14 plays a strong two-way game.

Injuries are a part of sports and the hockey playoffs. Someone from the Flyers will try to step up and they’ll need even more out of Mason, who was darned good in game one, if they are to avoid a two game series hole.

Notes: Carlson logged 23:50, Brooks Orpik played 21:56, and Alzner had 22:19 of time on ice on defense for Washington. The third pair didn’t see a lot of ice (Dmitry Orlov, 11:18 and Nate Schmidt, 7:02) due to the the numerous power plays at both ends. Overall 18:19 of the 60 minutes were played with one team on the man advantage…the Flyers were 0 for 4 with the power play, but they won the face-off battle, 31-26. Oshie was 4-2…the Caps outhit the Flyers 29-26, but they had the puck most of the night, too. Washington was physical and played a “200 foot game,” as Coach Trotz likes to call it…shot attempts were 69-49 for the Caps.

Comments Off on Holtby Blanks the Flyers in a Caps Dominating 2-0 Victory

The Philadelphia Flyers had everything to play for and the Washington Capitals only had some individual milestones to motivate them as well as the annual stench that is the squad formerly known as the Broad Street Bullies.

In an entertaining game that saw the referees pretty much let things get out of hand, the team from the City of Supposed Brotherly Love came out on top in the skills competition, 2-1.

On the good side, Alexander Ovechkin notched his 44th goal of the season on the power play and now has a five puck lead for the Rocket Richard trophy with six games remaining (Patrick Kane and Jamie Benn). On the bad side, Braden Holtby was fabulous in the cage with 33 saves, but a hooking penalty by Marcus Johansson led to a late Brayden Schenn power play tally when he tipped home Claude Giroux’s blast with 5:28 remaining.

Washington received an overtime man advantage when Wayne Simmonds tripped Evgeny Kuznetsov, but Nicklas Backstrom hit the left post on a beautiful set up and Philadelphia killed the remainder of that sequence. It was clearly an opportunity lost for Washington.

Sean Couturier then ran Holtby, but somehow the zebras gave #70 a matching minor for roughing??!!

Yeah, something.

The Flyers would then defeat the Caps in the shootout and the Holtbeast is still stuck on win number 46 with likely four starts remaining for him. He needs two victories to tie Marty Brodeur’s single season record. Holtby was just outstanding in this game making several big stops.

Overall, this was a pretty even game. The shot attempts favored Philly, 69-68, and shots on goal were 34-30 for the Flyers. The Caps were unlucky with some pipes hit, in addition to Backstrom’s in OT, Ovechkin hit the left pipe in the second period after he undressed Nick Schultz.

Kuznetsov, who has been struggling in recent games, was better in this one and his pass to the Gr8 on the power play 1:28 in to period three was a beauty of the saucer variety. It’s one that Fox Mulder probably would classify as a UFO.

Believe.

It’s never fun to lose to the Flyers, but in the four games they’ve played against each other this season, the Caps are 2-0-2. One loss came in 3 on 3 and the other in the gimmick. None of that stuff happens in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. So for the group of Debbie Downers out there on the ledge afraid of playing Philly in the post season, I have a quote from one Douglas C Niedermayer, Sergeant at Arms, for you.

“You’re all worthless and weak! Now drop and give me twenty!”

Once again, believe.

This Caps team is deep and will bring the intensity when the games matter. Right now this is basically glorified preseason for them. I’ll give the Flyers credit for playing hard, albeit a bit dirty, at times, but I expect nothing less from them.

The loss drops the Caps to 54-16-6 (114 points), but the Presidents’ Trophy was already clinched on Monday night. It’s now off to Colorado and Arizona for back to back tilts this weekend. You can expect to see Philipp Grubauer get one of those starts and perhaps Michael Latta, Stan Galiev, Mike Weber, and Taylor Chorney will see some game action, as well, to shake off the rust?

Right now it’s all about staying healthy for the playoffs. April 13th can’t come soon enough, but patience is all we must have right now.

Keep the faith.

Notes: The Caps were dominated from the dot, 41-28. Backstrom was 1-14, ouch!…Dmitry Orlov had a better game on Wednesday and doled out four hits. His decision making in his own zone was very solid, too…Jay Beagle led the Caps with five shots on goal. He had a great chance in overtime, but waited too long after Steve Mason (29 saves) had the five hole open for a few moments…Matt Niskanen led the Caps in ice time with 26:42…both teams were 1 for 3 with the man advantage.

Matt Niskanen scored the game winner on an end to end, Bobby Orr-like rush in the third period and Braden Holtby was his usual self in net making 33 saves as the Capitals downed the despised Philadelphia Flyers, 3-2, on Super Bowl Sunday.

Aaahhhh, the sweet feeling of a victory over the Flyers is always so nice. The air is cleaner, the drinks are colder and go down smoother, and the food tastes so much better afterwards.

But this was not a pretty triumph for Washington. For 30+ minutes they were sloppy with their passes and looked a step slow as the Flyers won the majority of the loose puck battles.

Things appeared troubling for Washington when the Flyers, already on a power play, received a 53 second two man advantage with 8:40 remaining in the middle frame and the Caps down, 1-0. Washington made another mental blunder, as they had done most of the game in earning the too many dudes call. The Caps, however, would kill it off with Holtby, Brooks Laich, Karl Alzner, and Niskanen doing some remarkable PK work.

Shortly thereafter the Capitals seemed to wake up from their pre Super Bowl kickoff slumber and Alexander Ovechkin did what the team had not really done all game, he went to the front of the net. As a result, after a face off loss and Flyers turnover, the Gr8 deflected home a smart Alzner shot for his 30th goal of the season. That seemed to wake up everyone in red, including the crowd, and moments later Dmitry Orlov scored after a fabulous deke and top shelf snipe to make it 2-1, as this one headed to the 3rd period.

The Capitals would kill off the fifth Filthy power play of the game early in the third period, but two easy failed clearing opportunities at the end of it led to a defensive zone faceoff that the Flyers promptly won and scored on. Holtby didn’t see the shot (Nick Schultz), like the first Philly bomb that made it 1-0 (Michael Del Zotto).

But from there the Caps seemed to get stronger and Niskanen, seeing a large gap up the middle of the ice skated his way in on Steve Mason (27 saves) with the Flyers forwards and defensemen acting like Moses had ordered a parting of the Red Sea. Nisky went in, put a slick move on Mason, and buried the biscuit.

Everyone was surprised with the goal, including Niskanen.

“I don’t have any moves, it was an accident,” said the humble Caps d-men to the media afterwards (h/t to NHL.COM’s Katie Brown)

“I think the whole building was surprised, it’s a highlight, 100 percent,” added the Caps captain, the Gr8, on the game winner (h/t to Zac Boyer of the Washington Times).

That goal, just 5:24 into the final frame would hold up as Washington played a better period than they had in the first 40 minutes. The Flyers final chance to tie the game came with 7.4 seconds remaining on an offensive zone faceoff, but unlike on the second Philly goal, T.J. Oshie won the draw to the corner to kill the clock. The Capitals then celebrated while Jakub Voracek took his losing frustrations out on the Flyers bench door.

Philadelphia, who are desperate for standings points, would leave Verizon Center with the equivalent of John Blutarksy’s grade point average, while the Caps improved to 38-9-4, which is good for a staggering 80 points. Wow!

It was also Holtby’s 33rd victory of the season and he really earned it. He was outstanding in net making big stop after big stop until his club finally came out of hibernation. He had a huge save on a 3 on 1 Flyers rush when it was 1-0 and his save on Mark Streit was solid positioning and a bit of luck as #32 failed to get good lumber on the shot.

Not getting good wood on shots was a common theme as the puck was bouncing everywhere on the Wizards ice, but it’s the same for both teams, so no excuses either way.

Back to Niskanen, though, the decision by the Penguins to let him go after they overpaid Kris Letang has been a blessing for the Capitals. He led the team in ice time once again, with 24:51, and he’s routinely matched up against the opponents’ top line, with Alzner. Recently, I asked an impartial NHL scout who he would take if he had the choice on Niskanen at $5.75M or Letang at $7.25M through 2020. Without hesitation, he stated Niskanen. I could not agree more. #2 is so solid in both ends and is such a team guy. He was a big reason the Capitals were able to keep winning hockey games while John Carlson was out for 12 contests.

Additionally, he’s a hero in these parts for helping the Capitals defeat the Flyers. Philadelphia is Washington’s biggest rival going back to 1974 when the Caps entered the NHL. Game after game truckloads of drunk Flyers fans would invade the Capital Centre in the Broad Street Bullies and beyond years and go home happy after defeating the Caps. There were almost always fights in the stands, too.

Nowadays, the Flyers aren’t that good, but make no mistake about it, this is still a huge rivalry and many Filthadelphians were in attendance at the Verizon Center on Sunday.

Today, though, Caps fans can smile “broadly” as Ron Hextall’s team heads back up I-95 with a big donut hole of standings points.

Notes: Shot attempts were 68-57 for the Flyers, but the Caps won the even strength battle, 50-42, per hockeystats.ca…Philly was 0 for 5 on the power play while the Capitals were 0 for 2. Washington is in a 0 for 17 funk and it looked bad again on Sunday…the Caps lost the faceoff battle, 35-32…Burakovsky didn’t score a goal, but he and Evgeny Kuznetsov assisted on the Orlov marker…Wayne Simmonds, who received a match penalty for a sucker punch on Ryan McDonagh of the Rangers on Saturday, was allowed to play by the league and he was -2…Niskanen led the Caps with seven shots on goal. Ovechkin had five…the Caps only had 19 hits to the Flyers 21. Washington didn’t get their brand of heavy hockey going until the second half of this game.

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The Washington Capitals had two games this week against the despised Philadelphia Flyers to try to turn their season around and move into a playoff position.

The final result of those two games: Flyers 4 points, Capitals 1 point.

After blowing a 4-2 lead and losing in OT on Sunday the Capitals went onto Broad Street on Wednesday and promptly laid a big colossal egg for 40 minutes. They were outskated, out hit, out coached, and outscored, 4-1, before staging a furious third period comeback that fell short, and they lost, 6-4.

The optimists will brag about the heart the team showed in coming back in the last frame.

I want to hear NONE of it.

This is the Flyers, the most hated team the Capitals have played since their inception in 1974. Playoff positioning was on the line against a team that plays as dirty as its’ smelly city.

And this is the effort you put out for a rabid fan base who has been supporting you with over 200+ straight sellouts?

This entire team, including the coaches, needs to look in the mirror after these two games and collectively figure out where each can improve to make this group of players better than the sum of its parts.

Right now, despite the obvious roster issues on defense, they are still underachieving.

It is unacceptable and it starts with effort.

You cannot play one period in a hockey game and expect to win. In the 6+ periods of this home and home the Capitals played hard in two of them, the first period on Sunday and the last on Wednesday. It wasn’t close to good enough against a mediocre, at best, Flyers club.

It is pitiful. There are too many mental mistakes along with the lack of effort.

It is maddening to watch and disappointing considering some of the high end talent on this club.

The entire crew should feel shame.

The overall effort stinks and there is not enough focus and that borders on being unprofessional.

A few more performances like this one and the only thing these guys will need to focus on for mid-April and beyond is tee times at their local country clubs.

The season is getting late and the Caps are on the outside looking in. It’s going to take some serious commitment from every guy on this team and the coaching staff to find a way to get on a run to make the post season.

The schedule is really tough, but with poor efforts and the lack of focus seen in the last two games, it doesn’t matter who you play, you will likely lose.

They’ve dug themselves a deep hole with this awful two game set that they gave away to the armpit squad of the Metropolitan Division.

I’m disgusted.

I sure hope the players and coaches are too.

Now excuse me while I go find some Swami Baha records to listen to in an attempt to try and cheer myself up.

One with the universe…

Notes: Today the Caps traded Michal Neuvirth and yesterday’s acquisition, Rotislav Klesla, to Buffalo in exchange for goalie Jaroslav Halak… General Manager George McPhee was unable to swing a deal that made sense for defensive help…the best news with all of the trades over the last two days is that the Capitals now have $17+M of salary cap space available for 2014-15.

The Washington Capitals early season struggles have been well chronicled, but on Friday night at the Verizon Center the Caps gave their fans an evening to forget about the string of six losses in seven games by defeating the despised Philadelphia Flyers, 3-2.

For two teams that are usually near the top of the Eastern Conference standings, this was an unusual affair as the loser would likely reside in the basement of the conference at the end of the night. That “cellar dwellar” title goes to the Flyers after Braden Holtby played an excellent game in net making 29 saves and center Nicklas Backstrom (1 goal, 1 assist) had his best effort of this lockout shortened season.

Believe it or not, we are at the 1/6th point of a 48 tilt campaign. The Caps are still 2-5-1 and have a lot of work ahead of them, but I thought they did some good things in the victory over the Flyers.

To steal a line from the movie “What About Bob?”, Washington managed to do some “baby stepping” on Friday.

There was progress in the penalty department as the Caps only allowed three power plays despite taking another delay of game penalty. Washington killed off all three of those Philadelphia Flyers power plays. In their two wins they have only had to survive two shorthanded situations (vs Buffalo) and the three on Friday. Stay out of the box and not allow a power play goal and your chances of winning go up dramatically, much like not turning the ball over in football generally leads to victories.

In addition, there seemed to be more cohesion with the lines as Coach Adam Oates put Alexander Ovechkin with Mike Ribeiro and Wojtek Wolksi together with Backstrom centering Troy Brouwer and Marcus Johansson on the second line. That left a good checking unit in Jason Chimera, Jay Beagle, and Joel Ward. Ovechkin had seven shots on goal, his highest total of the season, and he had more jump than usual. However, he and his linemates will be called on the carpet for the total lack of defensive assistance they provided to Mike Green and Karl Alzner on the first Flyers tally. Defensive zone is still an issue for this team, one that I am sure Oates will continue to address and tweak going forward. You can’t win if you are bad in your own zone and Washington has plenty of room for improvement there.

One of the areas I was most confident in this team coming into the season was goaltending. Holtby was outstanding in this one after Michael Neuvirth had given the Caps a chance to win the previous four games. Both Holtby and Neuvy are the type of goalies you want to have in this short compact season: young and ultra competitive. Also, they both have a short memory, which is very important at the NHL level.

Washington’s power play still continues to sputter (o for 5 vs. Flyers), mostly due to their inability to get the puck in the zone to set up. Oates attributed that to “bad reads” on Friday night. I’d still like to see more bodies and pucks to the net with the man advantage. For me, Brooks Laich can’t get back soon enough to join the second line and bump Johansson down to the fourth unit or even out of the lineup. Plus #21 is a super net presence in man advantage situations and his penalty killing is outstanding. With Laich skating on Friday morning, it appears we are getting closer to getting a key piece back into Washington’s forward lineup.

Another problem with the power play is faceoffs. Right now the Caps are losing those opening man advantage draws and that wastes a good 15 seconds right off of the bat. It also allows the defense to set up. Philadelphia was 40-29 from the dot against Washington on Friday, with Ribeiro going a terrible 5-12. The Caps centers have to be better at draws going forward.

On the backend, John Erskine has played very well and is getting the fourth highest D-man minutes. However, his elbow to the head of Wayne Simmonds will likely draw some Brendan Shanahan reaction in the form of a fine and possibly a suspension. It would be nice if Dmitry Orlov was ready to go but that won’t happen yet, although it appears he practiced late this week in Hershey and is inching closer to a return. Getting Orlov back and playing at the NHL level would help the Caps defense and also strengthen the second power play unit (a left handed point shot is definitely needed).

Summing up this one, the Capitals did some good things and got a victory on Friday night. They needed one of those very badly. What makes it even sweeter is it came against the Flyers, who along with the Penguins, are the most disliked teams the Caps compete against.

Washington has a lot of work to do to get better and climb back into the top eight slots in the East. If they keep working hard, playing smart, and sticking together, they have a chance to win consistently. But they don’t have much room for error.

Still, any way you slice it, a win over the Flyers is always good, no matter what the records are coming into the affair.

Next up, the Pittsburgh Penguins on Super Bowl Sunday.

Notes: John Carlson made a great poke check to spring Backstrom for the Caps first goal that tied the game at one. #19 beat Ilya Bryzgalov on the back hand on a breakaway as Philly got caught in a line change…Matt Hendricks and Flyers goon Zac Rinaldo were both ejected for the dropping the mits on a faceoff before the puck was officially in play. That is an automatic game misconduct…Wolski and Brouwer had the Caps other goals.

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